Hard Start When Car is Warm

[GoodSHOman]

I am posting this is a couple of places in hope of getting some visibility. I am sorry if this causes a problem.

Sorry for the long message, but I need to tell the story.

I took my 1993 ATX to a Ford dealer in Northern VA to diagnose my problem. I had a new fuel pump installed and new plugs. I drove it five miles and the check engine light came on again. I immediately went back to the dealer and I was told the code was a faulty front O2 sensor. I bought one and they installed the next day. The check engine light stayed off. The mechanic cleared all the codes by disconnecting the battery. For some reason, he told me the car alarm was not working as usual. It did not chirp when I locked the doors. I spent about $1,600 at the dealership on replacing the fuel pump, an alignment, and changing the plugs. When I questioned the cost, I was told that these were the standard rates for Northern VA. At least they did the O2 sensor for free.

I began my trip from Virginia to Massachusetts. After driving about 100 miles, I pulled over at a rest stop and when I tried to start the car, the engine would begin to come to life and then shut off with all of the warning lights across the bottom of dash lighting up. A second try yielded the same result. After a third try with the accelerator to the floor, the car started and the engine ran perfectly. I had to stop again later and I had the same problem. It was very hard to get the warm engine to start. After a couple of tries, the starter would sound weak and click and then turn over the engine. This created a lot of stress during my 450 mile journey. I could not trust the car to start on a warm engine.

After arriving at my destination with the car sitting overnight, I started the cold engine in the morning without a problem. I drove it for about 15 minutes; parked it for 10 minutes, and when I tried to start the warm engine, I had the same starting problem. Once started, the engine ran fine but I had intermittent check engine light coming on and then off. I also noticed this time when the engine started, the tachometer stayed at zero when the engine was briefly running and then shut down. After doing some research on this site, I wonder whether this could be cam sensor issue.

I have parked the car in the garage and I do not want to take it out until we can figure this out. I am not very knowledgeable about this stuff and would appreciate any advice and help. I also need the name of a good mechanic in Worcester MA who can fix the car.

 

[sperold]

Holding the accelerator on the floor means the fuel injectors are shut off.

When it starts using this procedure, it usually means you have too much gas in the cylinders, perhaps from lazy injectors or a bad pressure regulator.

The no tachometer symptom usually means the cam sensor is acting up, and it causes a lot of havoc until it is replaced. Also the cam sensor identifies number one cylinder and allows the car to start first try.

When this cam sensor is faulty, it takes multiple attempts to start the car, as each attempt identifies a number one cylinder, but it is wrong in its guess without a reliable cam sensor.

Check the fuel pressure at the fuel rail with a pressure gauge. There are many posts on this forum on this topic.
Your new fuel pump may be wonky. Look for a steady reading of 35 or more, but check some threads to be sure.

Look for the tach moving while rolling over, it should. I had one that never moved, yet the car ran OK, so take the symptoms for what they are worth.

I think you can unplug the cam sensor, and once you do the ritual of trying 3 times to start the car, it should run better than it does now. That would be an indication the cam sensor is sick.

Never take your car to a Ford Dealership or any other one. No one there knows anything about your car.

 

[rubydist]

To expand upon the good writeup of sperold above, I have learned the hard way that a sick cam sensor is worse than a dead cam sensor in some cases.

A dead cam sensor will make the tach stay at zero, and will take multiple start attempts to get it going, but once it is running, it will run fine. A sick cam sensor, however, can make it randomly shut off, randomly not start at all, etc.

Flooding upon hot restarts is nearly always due to a fuel injector that is leaking down. Sometimes a few tanks of gas with fuel injector cleaner in it will resolve the problem. In other cases, the injector needs to be changed.

 

[Bryan]

Stealerships are a good way to empty your wallet. Heck I took my 2003 Jeep to a dealer just to try and find some parts and they were clueless for what I was looking for. They did though try to get me to trade it in for a new *************.

 

[luigisho]

Stealerships are a good way to empty your wallet. Heck I took my 2003 Jeep to a dealer just to try and find some parts and they were clueless for what I was looking for. They did though try to get me to trade it in for a new *************.

I find all of it varies in competency depending on who you are talking to directly. Some are knowledgeable, some are curious and motivated to help, and some are neither. I've got some decent dealer parts people and some that are terrible. I have spent enough time over there to know who to deal with. This is true in almost all endeavors.

 

[itwonder]

I suggest getting a Lithium Ion jump pack, aka jump starter, to carry in the car for peace of mind until you get this sorted out. The cam sensor is relatively easy to change out, so it's a good place to start.